Abstract

Background

An increasing number of emergency medicine (EM) residency training programs have residents
interested in participating in clinical rotations in other countries. However, the
policies that each individual training program applies to this process are different.
To our knowledge, little has been done in the standardization of these experiences
to help EM residency programs with the evaluation, administration and implementation
of a successful global health clinical elective experience. The objective of this
project was to assess the current status of EM global health electives at residency
training programs and to establish recommendations from educators in EM on the best
methodology to implement successful global health electives.

Methods

During the 2011 Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) Academic
Assembly, participants met to address this issue in a mediated discussion session
and working group. Session participants examined data previously obtained via the
CORD online listserve, discussed best practices in global health applications, evaluations
and partnerships, and explored possible solutions to some of the challenges. In addition
a survey was sent to CORD members prior to the 2011 Academic Assembly to evaluate
the resources and processes for EM residents’ global experiences.

Results

Recommendations included creating a global health working group within the organization,
optimizing a clearinghouse of elective opportunities for residents and standardizing
elective application materials, site evaluations and resident assessment/feedback
methods. The survey showed that 71.4% of respondents have global health partnerships
and electives. However, only 36.7% of programs require pre-departure training, and
only 20% have formal competency requirements for these global health electives.

Conclusions

A large number of EM training programs have global health experiences available, but
these electives and the trainees may benefit from additional institutional support
and formalized structure.